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I'm supposed to name her for the AKC? uhmm.. ideas anyone?

Hi. So my cavalier got spayed a few weeks ago. I contacted her breeder who sent me her akc registration papers. I'm looking them over and they say that I need to give her an akc name and to make it original. Her mom is named "miley's miles of smiles" and her dad is "Mister Maxwell one in a million". uhmm.. okay, when I met them they were Max and Miley. I get it sort of. What is the purpose of naming your dog a huge name like that? Does she have to be the only one that has her name. I named her Lucie. The vet calls her Lucie Rose because Rose is my last name. But, how do I go about naming her for the akc? I want her to be registered ofcourse. I just don't know what I want to call her, what's proper? I have a few words I figured maybe I could just use her nicknames or commands.

her sit command is "be a lady"
her 'look at me' command is 'pretty eyes'
her release command is 'share it'

My boyfriend has nicknamed her 'little lu'

anyway, if anybody would like to tell me what I should put on this paperwork that would be nice. thanks!

... anyway, if anybody would like to tell me what I should put on this paperwork that would be nice. thanks!

I find that single syllable call names work best, if you plan to train and compete the dog in activities like agility. It really doesn't matter what a dog's AKC-registered name is, because you still can call your dog anything you want and that works for the dog. For our nearly completely deaf cavalier, a shrill whistle is the only sound he responds to.

Personally, I always find it kind of odd when breeders have owners think up their own registered names for their puppies, but on the other hand, a lot of owners really like being able to do so. .

The registered name is only a minor formality for a pet owner. You do not even need to register the puppy unless it is part of your contract, though it can be useful to do so.

Show breeders would generally have their kennel affix at the start of the name and then the dog's registered name. This is the name they are shown under and which goes on pedigrees. No one uses long show/registered names to actually name their dog for day to day use. Instead they use a 'call' name. Lucie would be your dog's call name. If you want you can just register her formally as Lucie. Or you could register her as Lucie Be a Lady (cute!) or just Be a Lady, or any other phrase. Sometimes breeders aim for a name that has some thematic relationship to the parents (same is done with race horses). It would have to be original *for that breeder's registrations* but not in the whole world of registered dogs or cavaliers.

Some people find giving a registered name a lot of fun and breeders can spend a LOT of time coming up with good names (often an entire litter will have some sort of theme in the names, but not always).

My two registered cavaliers are called Ronnoc Carol's Boy and Ronnoc Gizmo (latter named by the breeder's daughter... ). But I call them Jaspar and Leo. Two others are rescue cavaliers and unregistered. My pyreneans are registered as Warneton Cream Muffin and Warneton Compte de Navarra. Their call names are Muffin (she was always called this and it suited so we kept it! And it became part of her registered name) and Bryn (no relation at all to registered name though I did consider names connected to Navarra area of the Pyrenees mountains, historical connections etc.). I never even think about their registered names -- they are just what's on the formal paperwork.

When an AKC breeder gives a "blue slip" (an AKC-bred dog's registration application) to a pet buyer and says "Name the dog and send AKC the blue slip", that breeder is just being cheap. She has avoided the cost of registering that dog herself. In the CKCSC,USA, breeders register their litters and the puppies in those litters simultaneously. In the AKC, the breeders can get away with just registering the litters. Those who pass the blue slip to the puppy buyers are those who are trying to avoid an expense they should incur. When they register the pups with the litter registration, they get a discount, but apparently most of these breeders would prefer to pass that cost on.

I think Lucie be a lady is a really sweet one. Teddy and his two sisters had Strictly Come Dancing as the theme and Teddys is Dances like Pasha. I would have loved the chance to think up his KC name but i actually like what he has anyway. And of course we got to choose his family name.

thanks for the input. I think that I'll just go with Lucie be a lady. It seems as though that's the phrase i've been saying to her since I brought her home. Lucie, be a lady.. I must say it a dozen times a day so it fits. thanks for the input and explanation. She is my first pet, ever. so, it's all new to me.

Thanks Rod for the additional info -- I didn't realise this element of things. I know sometimes breeders ask new owners to help name the dog in the US (never have heard of that in Ireland; don;t know about the UK) but then the breeders do the actual registration themselves.

Interesting that you're not required to put the kennel name in there somewhere. Luke's name is Sweetdream (that's his kennel name) A New Hope. His registration is only through CKCSC. The breeder let me choose his registered name, minus the kennel name of course. For those who don't know Star Wars, A New Hope is the name of one of the movies, and Luke is one of the main characters. If there was a reference to something that her name came from, you could incorporate that in the name. Luke's dad is named George, and is registered as Curious George. I don't think his mother has any sort of fancy name, and I think they just put her call name in as the registered name. Several others in his pedigree, though I don't really know, appear to be registered just Kennel Name + Call Name. I don't know though, other people would probably know better than I do (Homerbrent Denzil and Donovan that I can recall off the top of my head). So it's perfectly fine to just put that in as the name.
I don't think you can have two dogs with the same exact name, but you wouldn't, because there would be the kennel name and then the rest of the name. Somebody else could name a cavalier A New Hope, but not Sweetdream A New Hope.

I LOVE lucy be a lady. My first dog (a birthday present when I was in 4th grade) I named Flip because he would flip over and stumble. He was given the name "Anne's Flip Flop".

If I gave Ella a registered name, I can't remember it. Ella was registered with the CKCSC USA (not by breeder) but I think she just had the Kennel name/Affix then Ella. I don't know why I can't remember but I definately remember "Anne's flip flop" LOL.